From the Embassy of Venezuela in Washington, DC, Tariq Ali discusses the rise of Latin American leaders Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales and the new populist movement that they represent. He also talks about the Bush administration's policies towards Venezuela and the influence of Fidel Castro in the region. Includes Q&A.
Tariq Ali has written several books on world history and politics, as well as scripts for the stage and screen. His books include "The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity," "Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq," and "Street-Fighting Years: An Autobiography of the Sixties." For more, visit www.tariqali.org.
Bio
Tariq Ali
Writer, journalist and film-maker Tariq Ali was born in Lahore in 1943. He was educated at Oxford University, where he became involved in student politics, in particular with the movement against the war in Vietnam. On graduating he led the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. He owned his own independent television production company, Bandung, which produced programmes for Channel 4 in the UK during the 1980s. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio and contributes articles and journalism to magazines and newspapers including The Guardian and the London Review of Books. He is editorial director of London publishers Verso and is on the board of the New Left Review, for whom he is also an editor.
Amb. Bernardo Alvarez Herrera
Bernardo Alvarez Herrera became Ambassador of Venezuela to the United States on Jan. 27, 2003. Previously, he held various public positions such as Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Deputy to the National Congress, Vice Chairman of the Armed Forces Committee and Chairman of the Energy and Mines Committee, Executive Secretary of the Working Group on Political Reforms of the Presidential Commission for the Reform of the State and Chief of the Research and Development Division at the Venezuelan Institute of Foreign Trade. In the international area he has held positions as Representative of Venezuela and Member of the Executive Committee to the U.S. Energy Council, Principal Coordinator for Venezuela in the Cooperation Agreement on Energy with the United States, and Head of the Venezuelan Delegation to the Ministerial Conferences of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Bernardo Alvarez Herrerae has taught at the School of Political and Administrative studies of the Universidad Central de Venezuela and at the Superior School of the Venezuelan Air Force as well as Academic Advisor at the Institute of Higher Studies on National Defense. Ambassador Alvarez holds a degree in Political Science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and a Master's degree in Development Studies from the University of Sussex, England.